Like you promised

~~Chapter 14~~

"Where are we going exactly?"

"You'll know when we get there." Luke said keeping his eyes on the road.

"How long will it take?"

Thalia spoke up this time time, "A day and a half."

"Depends on the huntresses, if they fall behind we'll have to wait longer," Luke stated blandly.

Lighting might as well sparked in Thalia's eyes, "they're ahead of us no matter what. They're practically circling, getting where your army is."

Luke didn't say anything about that.

Tiredness started to overwhelm me as the sun was raising with the green trees coming out of view as Luke continued to drive while more houses and city got closer and closer, being all there was to view. I couldn't even control myself when I finally fell into bliss.

It was still the crack of dawn by the time I started to wake up again, stretching I readjusted in my seat to see Thalia still fast asleep but Luke was still focused on driving.

The prophecy rang in my head for a few seconds reminding me of what I had to come.

Luke's eyes met mine for a second, a mixture of care and worry and I had to quickly look away.

I'll always remember Luke as good.
Even though recently he's tainted it with his plans to work with Kronos, but now I'm not sure what to believe. After his first betrayal there's still the small warning that this is all just another scam.

He was more of a father figure to his siblings and the unclaimed kids then their godly parents ever could be. He was the one that would be there when their nightmares wouldn't leave. He was the one that would tuck them in to bed and tell them stories with a happy ending. He was the one that would help them with school when they were behind. He did it all.

He did everything Hermes and the other selfish gods were meant to do and he did it for the dozen of kids.

People will say that the Hermes kids are iffy about Luke and the war only because he's their brother. But it's more then just blood. He was the only older figure (besides perhaps Chiron) who was there for them. The demigods are expected to fight for their parents, while the actual person who was more of a parent then a brother is on the other side.

I knew Connor and Travis felt some pressure to follow in Luke's footsteps with being the parental figure for their siblings. Maybe they realised they had to be themselves and feel lucky that there's two of them.

I knew his family was a part of the reason Luke went against the gods, he had to raise his own fathers kids because he couldn't do it himself. Hermes couldn't even put a foot in to be the one to protect them and that drove Luke crazy. For all those years he was painfully the protector of his siblings just like he was the protector of me.

And though Chiron tried to be an adult figure-and he was-there were more matters then just focusing on certain kids constantly that he had to attend to. Chiron was someone I saw as a father figure, even though he barely had time to be a father figure, but whatever time he had he made it count and he made me safe when growing up, even if Luke helped (a lot) with the making sure I was feeling safe part.

"What are you thinking?" Luke asked, bringing me back from my thought.

He was still concentrating on the road, maybe he was feeling tired. Or has he been feeling tired a lot longer then just this car ride?

"Nothing important."

Thalia eventually woke up and convinced Luke that it's her turn to take the wheel. I tried to conceal a smile, Percy told me about what happened with Apollo and the flying bus.

Apparently she's gotten a lot better at driving... or so she says, but both Luke and I didn't miss a few of her missteps. But I suppose it's a lot better then crashing into a lake from sky-high.

We reached a gas station, when it was still early morning and had a quick break as Luke went and payed for gas.

We all took a bathroom break, following up with Thalia and Luke arguing about who calls shots about paying for the gas station food.

My assumption is Thalia doesn't want to owe Luke anything after everything that's happened. Even though Luke never made it seem like she ever owed him anything.

"I don't care who, but someone's buying me a slushy," I claimed.

It was coke, and they both ended up dreadfully splitting up the price to both equally pay for the food.

"You stole your money," Thalia claimed as they got back in the car as I now sat in the back and Luke continued to drive.

"No actually, it was a benefit of working with Kronos... and then I took it with me." Luke looked at Thalia's accusing expression, "hey, you got yours from a goddess."

"And you got yours from a titan."

"If this is what you two are going to argue about, your conversations are now limited to music." I snapped at them. Though more playfully then I meant to let on.

Luke turned up the radio, "ow look a love song... should we change it Thalia? Or would you rather live through it now since you're not aloud to experience it?"

"Maybe you should change it to a sad song, so you can continue to express your abandonment issues."

"Okay-okay. No. You's aren't doing that any longer. Just an hour of peace and quiet from you two talking to each other."

"You're the boss," Luke mused.

Then Thalia decided to angrily stare off into the distance, while also turning the radio up.

"Did you two also fight when you'd have to discuss doing this?"

They spared a glance at each other, before Thalia took over talking, "mostly it was just sending secret letters. Luke had to prove himself secretly at one point and secretly write to Artemis too. It wasn't until now we actually had to see each other face to face."

I could imagine both of them being nervous over it. Though Thalia wouldn't admit it and would just say she was still angry, like when she pushed Luke off the cliff. I knew she was more nervous then she let on. She was seeing her once best friend again after everything that happened.

I'd be lying if I didn't feel a little jealous, with a pain of loneliness that they left me out of this. I know they'd both give a speech about protecting me. But if I didn't catch Luke sneaking around they'd both be in this car driving without me.

"You'd probably both be digging each other's graves if I weren't here." I joked about, though it was probably true.

And though Thalia would hate to admit she did it, Luke and her gave a faint smile at what I said.

"I'd let Thalia bury me in my grave before I'd dig hers." Same goes for you, his eyes spoke as he once again looked at me through the mirror.

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Posted: 23/August/2020

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